Rokachevsky, Zakhary Alekseevich

Born March 23 (April 5, according to a new style) in 1861 in the city of Roslavl, Smolensk province. His relative was the academician of painting Afanasy Efimovich Rokachevsky , who later influenced Zakharia as an artist.

He studied at the Roslavl railway school, after which the graduate was supposed to serve two years on one of the railways of Russia. In 1878, Zakhary began to work as a technician at the main workshops of the Oryol-Vitebsk railway . In 1887, he simultaneously worked at a school, where he was in charge of student practice. Impressed by the work of his uncle - Athanasius Efimovich, Zakhary also wanted to become a professional artist. At the expense of the chairman of the board of the Oryol-Vitebsk road society, who was also a trustee of the Roslavl railway school, Nikolai Alexandrovich Gerngross , who supported the young man, Zakhary Rokachevsky was sent to study at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts . ^[3]

During the years of study at the Academy, he was twice awarded prizes, having received small and large silver medals for drawings and paintings from nature. He worked under the guidance of the famous teacher P.L. Chistyakov . In 1895 he graduated from the Academy, receiving the title of non-class artist of the III class. Then he moved to Tomsk , where he entered the service of the Office for the Construction of the Central Siberian Railway ^[4] . In 1897-1898, on behalf of the Directorate, he completed several drawings of significant bridges and views along the Central Siberian Railway for the 1900 World's Fair in Paris . ^[5] When the construction of this railway was completed, Rokachevsky moved to the technical department of new works, where he worked as a senior technician, was engaged in the design of civil structures and in the preparation of projects for the location of tracks and buildings at railway stations.

Since 1900, Zakhary Alekseevich served in the Tomsk Technological Institute (TTI, later Tomsk Polytechnic Institute, now Tomsk Polytechnic University ) - was first appointed a freelance teacher of drawing, and in 1906 was approved by the Institute Council as a full-time teacher. ^[6] At the institute, he held drawing classes for first-year students, gave a course of lectures for third-year students of the engineering department on the theory of perspective, and conducted architectural design. He also taught drawing at a commercial school and at Siberian technical courses. Rokachevsky was one of the organizers of the Society of Art Lovers in Tomsk - took part in its activities and taught in the drawing and painting classes. ^[3] He became the author of the gallery of portraits of Tomsk scientists. ^[6]

After the October Revolution , in 1918, by decree of the Council of People's Commissars, he was promoted to professor. Having retired in 1923, he left for permanent residence in Leningrad , where he remained until the end of his life and died in 1932.

He was awarded the awards of the Russian Empire: the gold medal "For zeal" (1907), the medal "In memory of the birth of the heir-crown prince" (1907), the medal "In memory of the 300th anniversary of the reign of the Romanov dynasty" (1912).

Currently, the Roslavl Museum has collected documents by Z. A. Rokachevsky, as well as academic drawings and paintings painted in watercolor and oil. ^[3]

• Biographical reference “Professors of Tomsk Polytechnic University”: Volume 2. / Author and compiler A.V. Gagarin.- Tomsk: Publishing House of Scientific and Technical Literature, 2001.216 p.

• Rokachevsky Zakhary Alekseevich, artist
• Rokachevsky Zakhary Alekseevich, professor
• Prokopyev Maxim Viktorovich - PAINTING OF THE TOMSK PROVINCE IN THE FIRST THIRD OF THE XX CENTURY